ST2 is a binding receptor for interleukin-33 (IL-33), a cytokine related to IL-1 and IL-18 and also known as NF-HEV or IL-1F11. ST2 is expressed as both a soluble non-signaling variant (soluble ST2 or sST2) and a full-length membrane-spanning form (FL ST2, ST2 or ST2L) that mediates cellular responses to IL-33. The latter form is expressed on a wide range of cell types implicated in pathologic inflammation in a number of disease settings. These include lymphocytes, particularly IL-5 and IL-13-expressing T helper cells, natural killer (NK) and natural killer-T (NKT) cells, as well as many so-called innate immune cells, such as mast cells, basophils, eosinophils, macrophages and innate helper cells (also known as nuocytes (Neill, Wong et al. 2010)). IL-33 binding to ST2 on these cells leads to the recruitment of a broadly-expressed co-receptor known as the IL-1R Accessory Protein (AcP) and the activation of pro-inflammatory signaling, similar to IL-1 and IL-18. IL-33 is thus able to directly activate ST2-expressing cells or enhance their activation when in the presence of other activating stimuli. Examples of IL-33-induced cellular responses include the production of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-5, IL-6, IL-13, TNF, IFN-γ and GM-CSF as well as the production of chemokines, such as CXCL8, CCL17 and CCL24. IL-33 has also been shown to enhance acute allergic responses by augmenting mast cell and basophil activation triggered by IgE receptor signaling or other mast cell and basophil activators. IL-33 will also enhance the recruitment, survival and adhesive properties of ST2 expressing immune cells and thus is important in provoking and sustaining cellular inflammation in local tissues.
The pro-inflammatory actions of IL-33 on innate and adaptive immune cells culminate to promote a number of pathologic processes. In the lungs, these include increased airway inflammation, mucus production, airway hyper responsiveness and fibrotic remodeling. IL-33 can also contribute to localized inflammation in the joints as well as cutaneous and articular hypernociception, by promoting the production of proinflammatory cytokines (Verri, Guerrero et al. 2008; Xu, Jiang et al. 2008). Excessive IL-33 has been linked to pathologic collagen deposition and fibrosis and also contributes to epithelial damage in the setting of inflammatory bowel disease. Through its potent effects on basophils and IgE-sensitized mast cells, IL-33 can also trigger anaphylactic shock (Pushparaj, Tay et al. 2009) and may play a contributing role in allergic disease. Many of these diseases are chronic and progressive in nature and difficult to treat and there is a need for more effective treatments.
Consistent with its documented biologic effects, there are several lines of evidence that the IL-33/ST2 pathway contributes to human disease. For example, abnormally high expression of IL-33 is found in diseases involving inflammation in mucosal tissues and articular inflammation. These include asthma (Prefontaine, Lajoie-Kadoch et al. 2009; Prefontaine, Nadigel et al. 2010), inflammatory bowel disease (Beltran, Nunez et al. 2010; Pastorelli, Garg et al. 2010; Sponheim, Pollheimer et al. 2010) and rheumatoid arthritis (Palmer, Talabot-Ayer et al. 2009; Matsuyama, Okazaki et al. 2010). IL-33 expression is elevated in psoriatic skin (Theoharides, Zhang et al. 2010) and the skin of atopic dermatitis patients (Pushparaj, Tay et al. 2009) and is also increased in pathologic settings of fibrosis, such as systemic sclerosis (Yanaba, Yoshizaki et al. 2011) (Manetti, Ibba-Manneschi et al. 2009) and liver fibrosis (Marvie, Lisbonne et al 2009). The concentration of circulating soluble ST2 is also elevated in numerous disease situations, further indicating a link between this cytokine pathway and these diseases. Examples include asthma (Kuroiwa, Arai et al. 2001; Oshikawa, Kuroiwa et al. 2001; Ali, Zhang et al. 2009), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Hacker, Lambers et al. 2009), pulmonary fibrosis (Tajima, Oshikawa et al. 2003), sepsis and trauma (Brunner, Krenn et al. 2004), HIV infection (Miyagaki, Sugaya et al. 2011), systemic lupus erythematosus (Mok, Huang et al. 2010), inflammatory bowel disease (Beltran, Nunez et al. 2010) as well as rheumatoid arthritis, sclerosis, Wegener's granulomatosis and Behchet disease (Kuroiwa, Arai et al. 2001) and cardiovascular disease (Shah and Januzzi 2010). IL-33 potentiates eosinophilic inflammation and there is evidence this pathway is involved in eosinophil-associated disease, such as rhinosinusitis and nasal polyposis (Plager, Kahl et al. 2010) and eosinophilic bronchitis (Oshikawa, Kuroiwa et al. 2001).
Additional evidence linking the IL-33/ST2 pathway to human disease is provided by genetic studies, which have identified IL-33 and/or ST2 gene polymorphisms in the general population that are significantly associated with increased risk of disease or parameters of disease severity. Several large genome-wide association studies have linked genetic variation in ST2 (IL1RL1) or IL-33 with increased risk of asthma (Gudbjartsson, Bjornsdottir et al. 2009; Moffatt, Gut et al. 2010; Wu, Romieu et al. 2010) and other studies have genetically linked this pathway to increased asthma severity (Ali, Zhang et al. 2009) and bronchial hyper responsiveness (Reijmerink, Postma et al. 2008). Similar findings have genetically implicated this pathway in allergic disorders such as atopic dermatitis (Shimizu, Matsuda et al. 2005), rhinosinusitis (Sakashita, Yoshimoto et al. 2008; Castano R 2009) as well as nasal polyposis (Buysschaert, (Grulois et al. 2010).
Collectively, these links to several human diseases and the ability of this cytokine axis to promote many forms of harmful inflammation imply this is a useful target for therapeutic intervention.